Motorcyle Mama
Since starting her new job in 2021, Lata Rong has built a reputation of being able to successfully help farmers breed their most difficult livestock.
Meet Lata Rong, the hope of Sathkhira's livestock farmers. To support her family and her children’s education, Lata took up a job as a vaccinator for livestock in her home village of Debhata, located in the southwestern district of Satkhira in Bangladesh.
At first, she faced obstacles and needed to learn the tricks of the trade. She received training under USAID’s Feed the Future Livestock and Nutrition project on cattle breeding from Patuakhali University of Science and Technology to learn how to help farmers in her area raise healthier cattle and goats using safer and more hygienic methods of breeding.
Lata Rong prepares her livestock breeding equipment.
This job is typically done by men. In fact, Lata is just one of two female artificial inseminator agents out of 5,000 total in the entire country. So when she first started her job, people in her community started spreading negative messages.
“People didn't like me riding my motorbike, providing these services,” she said.
Breaking all the norms and ignoring the negativity, Lata has proven her skills and emerged to be one of the best artificial inseminators in her area with a conception success rate of over 80 percent.
Chalk up another successful job for Lata.
Since starting her new job in 2021, Lata has successfully inseminated over 500 cows and goats, building a reputation of being able to help farmers breed even their most difficult livestock. As a result, her business is booming and she is always zooming around on her motorcycle to make house calls to her clients.
Lata not only breaks norms with the type of work she does, but also in how she gets to her job: zipping around on a motor bike.
With her newfound success, Lata has doubled her monthly income and is able to provide a better life for her family.
When she isn’t busy working, Lata diligently helps her kids with their homework so they can complete their education.
Lata helps her son with his homework at their home in southwestern Bangladesh.
Lata’s story has inspired other women to follow in her footsteps, proving the naysayers wrong.
“I'm glad that I took the training and moved forward with it. I'm happy to be able to support my family,” says Lata.
